John Laskaris shares his tips for making sure your eLearning program develops a wide learner base in “4 Ways to Tweak your eLearning for Extended Audiences.” While the original post focus on eLearning training programs for organizations, much of the advice can be applied to online college courses. His top four tips include the following:

1. Upgrade the role of a facilitator from course mentor to a guide/consultant. As an instructor, it may benefit your student to email him/her directly and create a rapport with individuals, as well as the class as a whole. Then, you can share learning tips and create a comfortable environment for your students to ask questions and grow as learners.
2. Give eLearners options. Consider providing both optional and mandatory lessons to complete. Giving a bit of freedom in a structured course can go a long way!
3. Use automatic grading. When you have a system that provides students with immediate feedback on how they’re performing, you have more time to give students guidance and improve your course.
4. Mix in both synchronous and asynchronous activities. Give eLearners opportunities to upload assignments for grading, as well as to meet in online teams to learn and explore information together.

Check out more from the original article here.

Laskaris, John. “4 Ways to Tweak your eLearning for Extended Audiences.” Instructional Design. Talent LMS, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.